From Notting Hill with Love... Actually

 Author : Ali, McNamara

This book was a very quick read. As the title suggests, the book is all about finding love in true Hollywood style. The heroine, Scarlett O’Brien, is always day-dreaming about movies. She believes that her life is fabricated out of   different scenes from   different movies. She is unable to appreciate her steady relationship with her realistic and sensible boyfriend, David and craves for a short break from her current life to experience something extra-ordinary and explosive.

Her dear friend, Maddie, comes to her rescue. She gets an opportunity to fly to NottingHill, London, to house-sit for a couple who are on a month-long vacation. The famous quote from the Alchemist, “When you truly want something, the entire universe conspires to help you achieve it”, works like a charm for Scarlett. Once she steps into NottingHill, her life all of a sudden becomes like a movie set up. She is swarmed by new friends and well-wishers. Sparks fly between her and her neighbor next door, Sean. Life takes a dreamy turn. But even the movies have twists and turns, ups and downs. Scarlett’s adventures in NottingHill and the complications they entail, is the central part of this story.

 

Plotwise, this book has nothing new to offer. We have read many like this for years now. But what is unique about this book is the narration. Faithful to the title, the book is heavily influenced by scenes from the movies. The book borrows several dialogues and sequences from many movies, especially Pretty Woman, When Harry met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, An affair to remember and of course, NottingHill, to mention a few. It takes us on a nostalgic tour through all the movies which we had watched growing up, either in high school or in college. Though the plot is extremely silly and the heroine very annoying, I had a big smile on my face when I was reading this book only because of the movie references.

But my respect grew multi fold towards the author after I came to know that she suffers from chronic illness and more than one auto immune diseases. On good days, she can step out of the house with her crutches and on bad days, she is bed bound and cannot do anything. She says she never had a day when she felt completely well. For someone in her state, fantasizing a whirl-wind romance with her Mr Darcy , is more than acceptable. Creating such heartwarming, magical books and have so many best-sellers up her sleeve is truly commendable.

I would definitely recommend this book, more for the creator, than the creation itself.  

Rating: 👍👍👍👍

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Who Rules the World - Chinese Drama (Netflix)

 There are only a few movies , television adaptations and series which make you feel youthful again ! To me , last time it happened was when I watched Crash Landing on you , two years back . Good news , Tis the season of love again on Netflix . “Who rules the world” , a beautiful romance which alternates between the power politics and the martial arts world has managed to cast the magical spell . The legendary romance between a noble prince and a fearless princess , who also happen to be ace martial art fighters, is bound to fill your heart with warmth . Their chemistry is electric . The settings and costumes are extravagant and the screenplay is very tight and gripping . The pace is good and the martial art fights are a feast to watch . With almost perfect IMDb rating , this Chinese drama is rocking on Netflix .

Do not miss this historic drama, especially if you like martial arts and fights .

Rating : 👍👍👍👍👍

Notebook Mysteries : Decisions and Possibilities

 Author : Kimberly Mullins

This book is a historic mystery set in 1883, Chicago. The dynamic heroine Emma is only 18 but much ahead of her age. She developes a keen interest towards solving crime mysteries . In the men driven world of those times, she establishes a successful business of her own, and also helps other women who are in distress. Along comes a mystery where she is threatened and assaulted, but she has to help a family connection. Can Emma solve the mystery? This book takes us on a adventure filled ride along with Emma. I like women centric novels which are set in historic times, the courage and the resolve women had in those days to succeed was far more than what we have now, considering the opposition they had to face from the society. A very nice YA novel, I enjoyed it !

Jeeves in the offing

 Author : P.G.WoodHouse

Review:

One reads P.G.Wodehouse to laugh. One does not look for logic nor meaning in the plot.  Woodhouse books are well known for their situational humor, the sort of humor which builds up and throws the characters into weird circumstances throwing the readers into fits of laughter.

This book is not much different than his other books. Bertram Wooster decides to visit Aunt Dahlia at Brinkley Court, once again. But unlike the other times, Aunt Dahlia’s house is full of visitors, few of them with a complicated past. Wooster smells trouble but still braves the visit without Jeeves. As expected, people take full advantage of his good nature, and he ends up in a mess resulting in hilarious circumstances. He finds himself falsely engaged to a lady who hatches a plot to use him as a bait to get to her true love. Things get more complicated when there is a theft of his uncle’s precious silver cow creamer. Wooster lands in a big soup until Jeeves comes to the rescue.

The humor is abundant in this book, but I would have loved to see more of Jeeves. But the plot demands the absence of Jeeves for a long time, so the plot drags a little bit till his entrance. But overall, it does provide for a good laugh.

We read P.G.Wodehouse books as stress busters . In the current times where humor is celebrated dark, twisted or cheap, his books provide a great comic relief, especially to  those readers who still appreciate the good old classic humorous style of writing. I would any day recommend P.G.Wodehouse to my fellow book readers.

My Rating: 👍👍👍👍👍

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Emma

 Author : Alexander McCall Smith

Plot:

It is very difficult to accept a retake of a classic, especially when it comes to modern day renderings , that too of Jane Austen books. Jane Austen is a favorite to many of us and her fans stay loyal to her. There have been many sequels and spinoffs of Jane Austen books, we read them and invariably start drawing comparisons with the original classic and start listing the drawbacks, bashing the spinoff one way or another.

But things are not exactly the same, when the retelling is done by Alexander McCall Smith , a very seasoned writer. It is usually a sheer joy to read his books. His books are very entertaining to read and his characters are enticing and humorous. He has a knack of holding the reader’s attention for a long period of time. So it was  very interesting to analyze his modern day retelling of a Jane Austen Novel , Emma.

Emma is the most imperfect of all Jane Austen heroines. She is snobbish, pompous and loves to interfere. The book itself set in a countryside is filled with flawed endearing folks, who steal your hearts with their imperfections.

McCall Smith has taken lot of liberties in this retelling, though he has remained faithful to the original storyline. The novel  is mainly about Emma’s moral development, and that remains the same. But what leads to her self-discovery is captured very beautifully in this spinoff.

The central characters in this retelling, are Emma, Mr Woodhouse and Harriet. The rest of the characters are merely pawns whose lives Emma meddles with ruthlessly.

Mr WoodHouse gets a lot of weightage in this book. The ever fussy Mr WoodHouse, who always worries about viruses, infections, immunization records, cleanliness, environment, global-warming and the international politics. His observations are very interesting to read. Harriet came as a very genuine surprise, she is not exactly the weakling or a low intelligence creature which Emma assumes her to be in the original classic.

The goofups which Emma makes and how it affects other lives are hilarious, there are many times I laughed out loud reading the consequences which people have to face because of the mess she creates.

Though holding on to the light vein, the author makes very deep insights into human frailties, which makes you pause and think.

“When somebody does wrong, Emma, we must remember that that person is still a human being like the rest of us. We must not rush to throw the first stone. We must remind ourselves that all of us do wrong from time to time, unless we're saints, which we aren't.”

 

“And she lowered her eyes at the gentle reproach, for she had learned her lesson, even if there would be occasional, but only very occasional, relapses; for none of us is perfect, except, of course, the ones we love, the things of home, our much appreciated dogs and cats, our favorites of one sort or another.”

 

There is also a mention about global politics, the importance on cultural rights when living in a foreign country,  post-imperial and historic guilt which few Europeans encounter because of their ancestors conquering the world in the past and making the rest of the world suffer.

Jane Austen fans are very picky and they usually do not like liberties taken with her characters, so to be honest,  there are few things I did not like. The book is not without shortcomings. I felt Mr Knightley made  a guest appearance in this book . The romance does not flow , it is quite abrupt. I would have liked to see more of him and his equation with Emma. I couldn’t see the chemistry between them in this retelling.

A few shortcomings left aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this delightful book. It’s been a while since I read a real good book  to my heart’s content.  I would definitely recommend it to any Jane Austen fan.

My rating: 👍👍👍👍👍

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The chocolate lover's club

 Author : Carole Matthews

Four women , with completely different personalities and with different problems, some meek , some serious, bond over chocolate in this comical book . Their problems lead them to hilarious circumstances and they eat more chocolate to get over their issues .

It isn’t the type of humor I prefer but I cannot deny the fact that I did laugh out loud . If you like movies like Charlie’s angels or Bridget Jones Diary ( especially the humor in those movies ) , you can read this book . And yes there is chocolate throughout , so you can indulge in a lot of it as you are reading the book .

My rating: 👍👍👍

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Rosy is my relative

 Author : Gerald Durrell

A very charming book, filled with eccentric characters which makes you forget all your troubles and laugh wholeheartedly.

Adrain Rookwhistle is a grocery clerk who lives a boring life. Rosy is gifted to him as part of the legacy, and surprise, Rosie loves to drink alcohol.

Then come a series of hilarious circumstances when Adrian and Rosie go on an adventurous trip to the shore in search of a circus. The antics these two pose is outrageously hilarious. As they overcome the hurdles one after another and meet more eccentric characters on their way, they are presented with bigger problems. The climax is befitting, I do not remember when I laughed this much, other than a P.G.Woodhouse book. The last pages made me literally roll on the floor with laughter.

Do yourself a favor, pick up this book, and humor yourself. Do not miss it at any cost !

Rating: 👍👍👍👍👍

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Those People

Author : Louise Candlish 

“Could you hate your neighbors enough to plot to kill them?”. If you have ever had troublesome neighbors in your past who have triggered your criminal instincts, even for a little bit, you will relate to this book very well.

LowlandWay is a dreamy neighborhood, picture perfect and idealistic where all neighbors live in harmony. The houses are luxurious, children play together outside and everyone cares for each other.

Hell breaks loose when new neighbors move into one of the houses. Darren and Jodie are practically rebels. They do not follow the rules and that not being enough, they begin a ghastly renovation with rubble all around, turn on loud music in the night and start a used car business, with cars lined up everywhere in the neighborhood. “It’s a free world mate ! As long as the law allows it , we will do whatever we want” !

And then, one horrific night, there is death. And the cops suspect murder. The whole neighborhood is shattered. Who, how, why?

Read this fast paced , gripping domestic suspense to understand how deep the hatred can run if things do not go the way one expected.

The book started off well, almost similar to Agatha Christie books, and the suspense builds up as the crime unfolds. But towards the end, with all it’s twists and turns, it got a little more complicated than necessary.

It is dark, terrifying, scary and there are many times I cried out foul. There is a little bit of humor, and there are times I did laugh out loud as well. I did like this book, but not over the top awed by it.

If you are in a mood for a wacky, dark, gripping mystery, pick this book.

My rating: 👍👍👍👍

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The Christmas Pig

 Author : J.K.Rowling

#bookreview

An unforgettable adventure which sweeps you away into a land of magic, miracles and love for lost things, The Christmas Pig is a story about a boy, Jack, who loses his favorite toy, a Dur Pig, which he has treasured throughout his life. Christmas season looks miserable and bleak without him.

But, surprise, On Christmas eve, the day of miracles and joys, when kids look forward to their presents, the toys come to life. His new replacement toy, The Christmas Pig has a plan.

Jack and the Christmas Pig, embark on a daring adventure into the Land of the Lost, to seek something what he has lost, and reclaim this Dur Pig back.

This is a beautiful heartwarming book, which takes us into a different world, and reiterates the good old values of bravery, courage and true friendship. The toy characters are so endearing, and the Land of the Lost has a lot more to offer than lost toys. Do read the book to know what it’s all about and enjoy the roller coaster ride.

It’s been a while since I read a good children’s book, and who better than J.K.Rowling to lure her readers back into the world of adventure and re-instate the hope that not all magic is lost. A little late for Christmas season, but celebrate the joy and love with this book.

Rating: 👍👍👍👍👍

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STAR WARS - Prequel Review

 

Check out the STAR WARS Prequel review at

https://theworldofmovies.com/star-wars-the-prequel-trilogy-review/